Israel Approves iPad Imports

By Jeff Gamet

Apr 26th, 2010 9:12 AM EDT

Israel began allowing people to bring iPads into the country on Sunday after completing testing that showed the multimedia tablet’s Wi-Fi gear was in compliance with local regulations. The country had previously blocked people importing iPads because it hadn’t confirmed it met Israel and European wireless communication frequency standards.

After the iPad was released, Israel officials were stopping the device at their borders and 20 tablets were confiscated from travelers. iPad owners trying to bring their tablets into the country were told to ship them overseas.

At the time, Ministry officials commented “The iPad device sold exclusively today in the United States operates at broadcast power levels [over its Wi-Fi modem] compatible with American standards. As the Israeli regulations in the area of Wi-Fi are similar to European standards, which are different from American standards, which permit broadcasting at lower power, therefore the broadcast levels of the device prevent approving its use in Israel.”

Government officials said it will allow a single iPad per person to be imported, and also ordered the release of the 20 units that were confiscated.